You know what.... The Democratic Party is a coalition...

[WCGreen]

That's right....

Look at it like building a government in a parliamentary system of government....

You are not, I repeat, not going to agree with every elected democrat...

And just because you might not agree with one or two votes, you can't honestly throw someone out...

So being realistic about it, tossing people out of the party cause they don't always agree with you will eventually produce what some people must really want....

A party of one....

[mmonk]

1. I can do whatever I want

as far as support.

[WCGreen]

2. Be my guest..... It's still a free country.....

[Ken Burch]

3. Ok, we're a coalition...fair enough....

Who in particular do you think DU'ers are being unfair to?

[WCGreen]

6. I'm no fan of Joe Lieberman....

And I have stated so many times....

But I don't want to kick him out of the party.....

[Aaaargh]

12. Can we get back to reality here?

How do you 'kick someone out of the party'?

Who has ever been 'kicked out of the party'?

Opposing a politician of your own party because you disagree with him on important issues is not 'kicking him out of the party.' There have always been intra-party rivalries, competitions and controversies, and there always will be. If a Howard Metzenbaum runs against a John Glenn for a Senate seat, one wins and one loses, but neither is 'kicked out of the party' -- the loser may even run and win in the next election. If Joseph Lieberman, because of his pro-Bush stance on the Iraq mission and related matters, is successfully opposed by a rival in a primary for the next election, then he's been repudiated by Dem voters in his state, but not 'kicked out of the party.'

The only thing being kicked around here is a straw man.

[ieoeja]

26. Ask Martin Van Buren.

I believe the Whigs voted him out of the party during his tenure as president. It didn't really mean anything, of course. It was just symbolic.

Predictably he was NOT nominated by the party for re-election during the next election. THAT is far more meaningful.

[IronLionZion]

27. Jim Traficant

was denied any seniority or committee assignments....but he was also kicked out of Congress soon after.

[mmonk]

4. Not sure about the free country part.

Seems different to me. I've never felt this powerless as a citizen or voter.

[European Socialist]

20. here,here

[AtomicKitten]

5. Bravo!

so simple, so true

kicked and recommended

[scot]

7. Moral preening is easy, but seems hard.

Compromise that moves slowly in the right direction (but gets enough votes to win) is hard, but seems easy.

[WCGreen]

14. Well Stated....

[Laurab]

16. Excellent post

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[scot]

28. Thank you both.

I actually expected to get singed for using the "c" word.

[mmonk]

8. When I look at what this administration has gotten away with

and I look what has been given up for us without asking, I'm not in a coalition mood.

[rockymountaindem]

9. Sometimes you can say a lot without using a lot of words

This is one of those times. Nice post.

[crispini]

10. K&R

well said.

[BillZBubb]

11. It seems to me, that depends on the "one or two votes"

Say a "Democrat" voted for the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war. I'm sorry, but I could never support that person. Say a "Democrat" spoke at the Repug convention, would I be building a party of one for tossing that idiot out on his ass?

Just asking.

[WCGreen]

15. Zel Miller was already gone... Not running for reelection...

If I was the head of the party, I would have symbolically stripped him of his membership....

That should have been the response from the National Party...

That little show of "balls" may have swung enough people to the Dems to have outright won the last election....

[NativeTexan]

13. There you go! A good analogy, WC.

The Democratic Party has ALWAYS been such! And I have ALWAYS been PROUD FOR IT!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. K & R......

Clearly and elegantly stated, as usual.....

[Nutmegger]

18. We live in a two-party system

Rethugs built up their party and are kicking ass.

We need an opposition party just to keep the bastards in check. This is why we must be united on almost every important issue the Repukes steamroll through.

[leftstreet]

19. Actually, only parliamentary systems can utilize coalitions

Last I checked, the US doesn't have a parliamentary system.

Although - tsk, tsk - we like to spread that system to countries we invade.

Instead we've become a One Corporate Party Under God system, and apparently with a Unitary Executive. Unless the Democrats do something to reach out to the growing populist movement, the support for the party will continue to fade.

The same will happen with the Republicans. The Dem vocal majority is FAR ahead of the Repubs on this. Repub voters are just now starting to wonder why their "old party" of fiscal conservatism is dead. It will take some time for them to get versed and vocal about concepts like religious fundamentalism and corporate fascism.

[WCGreen]

25. Your kidding me... The US is not Parlimentarian....

Where have I been...

Seriously,

I was referring to the cobbling together a coalition on election day... A Parliamentarian system cobbles theirs together after election day...

[MrBenchley]

21. Well said....

K&R!

[Odin2005]

22. Great post!

The purists seem to forget that we loose a lot of socially conservative left-wingers to the republicans when we try to be ideologically pure.

[skyblue]

32. Differences.

The purists seem to forget that we loose a lot of socially conservative left-wingers to the republicans when we try to be ideologically pure.

Absolutely, Liberals are only a small part of the pie. Alienate moderates and conservatives and they will go to the Republicans. All the whining about you must vote this way because this is how I and all my liberal friends think but not how moderates and the rest of the country/state thinks is just bad strategy.

[Greyhound]

23. It depends on the what and the why. If some like say, Lieberman

casts votes in support of Democratic bills that are insignificant, or doomed to failure, and turns around and supports Anti-American Citizen legislation like the bankruptcy bill, I don't care what his party affiliation is he needs to go.

[BeFree]

24. All Politics Is Local

Each and every representative is elected locally. If the locals want to keep an idiot as their representative, there is nothing we outsiders can do about it except yell and scream.

We have too many plain yellers and screamers. But then that's part and parcel of coalitions - everyone is included.

Who here thinks DU will ever stop the locals from electing an idiot?

The only way I can see DU helping elect the correct 435 representatives is to make sure the votes are counted as cast.... and who here can say our votes ARE counted as cast? Not me.

[Neil Lisst]

29. I'm a Unficator

so I say YES

[lumberjack_jeff]

30. Coalition or not, they're still supposed to be the opposition. n/t

[Minnesota Libra]

31. One thing some Democrats CAN AND WILL DO is.......

....cut off his (or the party's) nose to spite their face. The republicans are turning on their own and destroying themselves from within. So you'd think that all Democrats of every persuasion would wise up and unite behind one party leader and go after the win. By the time the republicans are done destroying themselves it could be just that easy. Pick a leader and then follow that person all the way to the WH. Think liberals will make it happen though, think again.

The next election will be the Democrats to loose and if there's a way to loose it there are some Democrats who will figure out how to get the job done too. How? By the usual, "oh, I can't vote for that person, I disagree with this one issue", or "this other person is repub lite", or "Democrats deserve to loose", or any number of other things. No, unfortunately there are some Democrats that would rather spend eight years grumbling and complaining than do what it takes to win.

If Democrats do win the next election it will ONLY BE because republicans handed the Democrats the election on a silver platter. A

As for me, I'd take a page right out of the republican play book and beat them at their own game. I'd vote for the devil himself if it got rid of all republicans for at least eight years.